Hello Everyone! I found this site but accident but it has come at the right time! I have been having terrible troubles with my 5 year old Pit Bull Zoe. She has escaped from the backyard about 7 times in the last 6months and I have tried all sorts of things to keep her in. Now I need some advice! Please look for my thread to help me out in any way you can

Welcome! Mika's no Houdini, so I can't help too much with your escape issue, but I'm sure you'll get lots of good advise from others! Can you tell us more about how she's escaping? Is she jumping a fence? Digging under a fence? Is she secured by a tie-out when she's outside?

Welcome! I don't know if she is an indoor or outdoor dog, or how she is escaping, but Jeffers is known for that stuff as well.
He is an indoor dog, but when he is left outdoors, unattended, he will find his way out. So the best bet would be to put Zoe on some sort of tie down, in a kennel run, or only let her out loose w/ no leash when you can supervise her. It is pretty common for a pitbull to try to escape. They get bored and tend to want to venture out. Nosey little rascals!

Hi All!
Here is the low down on Zoe the escape artist:
About a year ago I moved into my new house that has a smaller backyard (but not small by any means) than my old house and also has a detached garage. I expected a transition period with her adjusting to her new home and the previous owners did not have a gate across the driveway since they used the side of the house as a dog run (6ft fence and then at one end chain link gate). So I was a little hesitant about the dog run because at the fence end was also two steps into the kitchen, which really turned the fence at that end into 4ft (and she can jump straight into the air 6ft no problem). So I did a 25ft tie down with a harness and put her in the dog run.

Right away we started building a gate so that we didn't have to keep her on the tie-out and we added a piece of lattice to that one spot in the dog run (making it 7ft tall). Once the gate was finished we moved the tie out into the center of the backyard to try it out with the new gate and because she was still getting used to her new house I didn't want her trying to escape and find her way back to her old house.

So for a couple of days it was fine till I came home and see her running around the backyard and I'm like what???? She managed to get herself out of a very tight harness. I wasn't too upset though since she was still in the yard and everything looked ok. This went on for awhile until I get a call from the neighbor that she was in my front yard (which also has a fence all the way around it). So we leave work and come home and find that she jumped through the lattice into the front yard. So now we closed the gate to the dog run so she can't get out that way.

Then another phone call from the neighbor and we find she has chewed away at the bottom board of the gate enough to get her head in and pull the gate backwards so she could squeeze out on her belly. Next step, electric fence. This worked for quite some time until one day the battery died and she figured it out and did a number on the gate again. Well we never made that mistake again and we were fine for awhile. Then we got another call last week. We couldnt figure out how the electric fence didn't work but the description from the neighbor was that all they heard was the boards splitting and then she was out in the front yard. Except this time she jumped the front fence into the neighbors yard and then went off into the neighborhood. Apparently she rammed one of the boards till it broke and as it fell off she was able to get her mouth around it and pull it enough to squeeze out. So while repairing the fence we check the batteries (they are fine) and are stumped as to what happened but we stick her in the garage (wood lift-up style). But alas, we come home and she is outside of the garage! She figured out that if she used enough force she could wedge her head under the door enough to lift it up so she could crawl out! Ok that won't work but the gate is fixed now so we won't try that again.

Couple days later another call that she is running around the neighborhood. We come home and they have managed to corner her in a neighbors yard with brooms (cause she's barking at them) and apparently she is TAKING THE SHOCK until it goes on overload and turns off then ramming the gate till it breaks and getting out.

So now I'm totally distraught. I figure I need to buy a metal gate to keep her in. In the meantime we try the dog run which we laced up and down and sideways with electric fence wire, reinforced the lattice and moved some items around so that she couldnt get a running start. That worked for two days till I got another call. This time it took us hours to find her and she ended up coming home herself. She finally decided to jump the fence sideways which is 6ft tall and go into the neighbors yard and get out, again taking the shock the whole time.

I went out and purchased a 6x6 chain link dog kennel the other night and was up till midnight putting it together only to find out that i couldn't turn it sideways to put it on the ground because the space is exactly 6ft (GRRRR!). Right now she is in her travel kennel which is not at all what I want. I really wanted her to have the freedom of the backyard but I can't take the chance of her getting out anymore and roaming the neighborhood. I don't have to worry about anyone stealing her, but I do have to worry about her being picked up once she's out of the yard. I saw some of the threads regarding tie-out options which look good but I'm scared now to try ANYTHING that doesn't include walls surrounding her. Someone recommended doggie soothing tablets which I have ordered which are supposed to relax them. I would really rather she have the whole backyard, but at a minimum the side of the house/dog run area but she can clear the fence. I think if I build a roof over it she will just start to chew the boards to get out.